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Johnny Cage
'''John Carlton', better known as Johnny Cage, is an action movie martial artist in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. He is one of the most recurring characters and one of the few original characters, debuting in the first Mortal Kombat arcade game About Johnny Cage Johnny Cage is a Hollywood movie star. Originally entering the Mortal Kombat tournament to display his fighting skills and prove himself to skeptical movie critics and the movie-viewing public, who believed Cage was nothing more than an actor who relied too much on stunts and camera work and not a real proficient fighter. Eventually, Cage becomes one of the most important defenders of Earthrealm. Though he occasionally lapses into his former selfish and materialistic ways, he has always been a brave and loyal warrior for Earthrealm. Johnny Cage is the most cocky earthrealm warrior Appearance Johnny Cage is depicted as the typical American action movie star; bare muscular build with karate pants and his trademark sunglasses which he keeps in his pants. In his debut, his clothing was modeled directly after Jean-Claude Van Damme's character in Bloodsport, consisting of black shorts with a red Kung Fu belt and black shoes. From MKII to MK4, he is depicted with black pants with blue accents. In Deadly Alliance and onwards, his design becomes a fusion of his first and familiar appearances, regaining the black shorts, but with a Cage emblem and blue belt tied to his waist. He goes barefoot with bandages straps. Interestingly, he has dyed his hair to a blond color. In MK 2011, he has a similar outfit from MKII but with slight changes: he keeps his sunglasses on all the time, his chest is tattooed with his own name, he has straps in his arms and hands, his pants' accents are white and his last name is on his belt. Combat characteristics Powers and abilities Despite the behavior of a comedian, Johnny Cage is a strong and agile warrior, showing an excellent fighting technique during a battle. Due to the long period of training with many masters of martial arts, Cage mastered several fighting styles, like the famous Karate. Human as he may be, Johnny Cage is not at a loss of superhuman powers. Due to his Mediterranean heritage, Cage appears to specialize in the shadow attributes, similar to Noob Saibot. By using this attribute, he is able to propel himself forward and increase the strength of his blows. When using this power, he leaves green-colored afterimages in his wake. He can further increase these shadow attacks if need be, which is represented by red afterimages. He also has the ability to throw concussive green blasts of energy. Signature moves *'Shadow Kick:' Cage would slide across the floor with one foot at a steady speed connecting with a kick to the torso of his opponent with the other one. (MK) *'Green Shadow Kick:' Improving on the speed of his Shadow Kick, he would move faster, and leave a green trail. In MK 2011 the move is once again Shadow Kick, however he keeps the green trail. (MKII, MKT, MK4, MKG, MK:SM, MK:DA, MK:A, MK 2011) *'Red Shadow Kick:' The fastest version of the move, which leaves a red trail. This is the enhanced version of the Shadow Kick in MK 2011 and is called Eclipse Kick, and has increased range and damage, together with Johnny saying Cage! after the move is done. (MKT, MK4, MKG, MK 2011) *'Green Bolt:' His original fireball traveled straight across the screen. (MK) *'Plasmic Fireball:' This fireball curved upwards, and would remain Cage's standard projectile. In Deadly Alliance the screen shakes if the projectile hit the opponent, while in Armageddon the screen will not shake. In MK 2011 this is called a Forceball and can have a high arc or low arc. (MKII, MKT, MK4, MKG, MK:DA, MK:SM, MK:A, MK 2011) **The enhanced versions are Double Low ball and Double High ball. On either one of these, Johnny fires a second ball in a straight direction at his opponent. *'High Green Orb:' A higher version of the curved fireball. (MKII, MKT, MK4, MKG, MK 2011) *'Triple Green Orb:' Johnny shoots 3 low green orbs one after another. (MK:SM) * Nut Breaker: One of Cage's most memorable moves where he does the splits and punches the opponent in the groin. This only worked on male fighters. Available in both Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks and Mortal Kombat (2011), it can be performed on both male fighters and female fighters. In MK 2011 it is called Nut Punch. (MK, MKII, MK4, MKG, MK:SM, MK 2011) **The enhanced version is called Nutcracker and turns Cage's fist green with energy. *'Green Shadow Uppercut:' Cage would leap into the air and deliver an uppercut with his elbow which launched his foe into the air, leaving a green trail. In MK 2011 Cage uses this move as his Breaker attack. (MKII, MKT, MK4, MKG, MK 2011) *'Red Shadow Uppercut:' A faster version of the move, which leaves a red trail. In MK 2011, this move is done after the Ultra Flipkick. (MKT, MK4, MKG, MK:SM, MK 2011) *'Sliding Uppercut:' A new move given to Cage had him do the split and rise up in the air delivering an uppercut to the opponent (this may resemble the "Shadow Uppercut" and the "Split Punch" combined). (MK:DA, MK:A) *'Flipkick: '''Cage does a somersault kick that launches his foe into the air, leaving a green trail. (''MK 2011) **The enhanced version is called Ultra Flipkick and leaves red trail, as well as following up with a Red Shadow Uppercut. *'X-Ray Move - Ball Buster: '''Cage taunts his opponent. If, during this time, they attack him, he parries them and performs a triple Split Punch in the opponent's groin area. As they double up, he jumps and then slams his elbow on their back, dealing damage to their spine. (''MK 2011) Fatalities *'Deadly Uppercut:' Johnny Cage delivers a bloddy and savage uppercut that tears his opponent's head off. A glitch allowed the fatality to be performed multiple times in MK. (MK, MKII, MKT, MK4, MKG, MK:SM) *'Torso Rip:' Johnny Cage grabs his enemy around the torso and rips their torso off, and throws it to the ground. (MKII, MK4, MKG, MK:SM) *'Triple Punch Decapitation:' A bizarre fatality in which Cage performs his uppercut fatality, only instead of one head, Cage knocks off three. Most likely done in parody of a glitch discovered in the first Mortal Kombat game, where Johnny Cage could knock off multiple heads in his fatality. (MKII, MKT) *'Torso Kick:' Johnny Cage begins to smoke, right before he performs a Shadow Kick that tears the opponent's torso off. The severed head then falls on what remains of the enemy. (MKT) *'Backbuster:' Cage would lift his opponent over his head and then bend them over his shoulders causing the opponent to explode into pieces. Only available in the CD versions of the game. (MKT) *'Brain Rip:' Cage thrusts his hand through the enemy's head and pulls out their brain. (MK:DA) *'Forceful Shadow Kick:' Cage performs a Shadow Kick strong enough for his foot to penetrate the enemy's flesh. Only available in the SNES version of Mortal Kombat. (MK, MK:SM) *'Nut Buster:' Cage performs his groin strike move, only takes it a step further by continuing to assault his opponent's genitals with a series of punches until with one final blow, he punches the enemy in half. (MK:SM) *'Heads Up:' Cage uppercuts his opponent's head off, then he finishes by ripping off their torso and throwing it to the ground as the head bounces up then he catches the head. (MK 2011) *'And The Winner Is...: '''Johnny Cage karate chops the opponent's head in half and takes out a trophy. He then says, "And the award goes to..." and plants the trophy in between the two chopped halves of the opponent's head. Then while the announcer says "Johnny Cage Wins." Johnny pushes the opponent, making them fall to the ground. For unknown reasons, Johnny does not plant the trophy in Kratos' head, as Kratos simply falls backwards when he gets his head split. (''MK 2011) Other finishers *'Friendship:' Autograph: 'Johnny Cage signs a photo of himself stating: "To My Greatest Fan! Cage" (''MKII, MKT) *Animality:' '''Hyper Kangaroo Kick:' Cage turns into a kangaroo and kicks his opponent off screen. (MKT) *'Babality:' Johnny Cage takes a pencil and paper and draws on it. The wind then blows the paper, making it land on the screen with the paper having a picture of himself and a few words saying, "To My Best Fan! Johnny Cage." which is most likely an homage to his Friendship in earlier games, see above. (MK 2011) Movie appearance Mortal Kombat Johnny Cage was portrayed by Linden Ashby in the first Mortal Kombat movie. In the film, he caused the death of Goro, avenging the death of a fellow fighter named Art Lean. Before doing so, he fought Scorpion too, and won. The film also took a page from Malibu's 1994-1995 MK comic book adaptations by starting his love interest with Sonya. As a homage to his Friendship in MKII, he left behind an autographed picture of himself after he defeated Scorpion. Mortal Kombat: Annihilation Chris Conrad played Johnny Cage in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. He makes a brief cameo appearance in the opening scene, in which he successfully saves Sonya Blade from certain death at the hands of Shao Kahn, only to be quickly slain by him instead. Mortal Kombat: Rebirth Matt Mullins plays Johnny Cage in Mortal Kombat: Rebirth. Similar to his game counterpart, he is a movie star whose career goes dry. Then in the following events, he begins a career as a secret agent. He is then hired by Jax and Sonya Blade to get info on Baraka. After a brutal fight, Johnny is laying on the floor and Baraka decapitates him. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Matt Mullins reprises the role of Johnny Cage in Mortal Kombat: Legacy. In the third episode of the series, Johnny Cage is an action star fallen in disgrace, who's dropped by his producers who, after refusing two of his proposals for a show, declare that the audience isn't interested in action movies any longer. Moments later, Johnny finds out that the two are using his ideas for the show to launch an actress: enraged, he violently beats one of the producers and some security agents. Leaving the studios, he's approached by Shang Tsung, who stops time and proposes him to change his life forever. Quotes Mortal Kombat (film) *''"Where d'ya'' get these guys?! And the press says I don't know how to do this?!" *''"Do I look like your travel agent?"'' *''"Y'know, when a woman looks at you like that...it usually means something."'' *''"Come to a little tournament, he said. Be good for the career, he said. Yeah right..."'' *''"This is our tournament, remember? Mortal Kombat.'' We fight it." *''"Those were 500 dollar sunglasses, asshole."'' Mortal Kombat: Legacy *''"Well, no shit if it's fake. It's a fucking movie!"'' *''"Your dropping me? After all the fucking money I made you?!"'' *''"Does that look fucking fake to you?"'' Character Relationships Mortal Kombat: Legacy *Is a famous actor and martial artist. *His career goes dry. *Tried to regain his glory days making a new movie, but is ignored by the movie producers. *Attacked one of the producers and several of his bodyguards after discovering that his idea had been stolen. *Invited by Shang Tsung to participate in the Mortal Kombat tournament. Movies *Trained and mentored by Master Boyd *Entered Shang Tsung's Mortal Kombat tournament. *Ally of Liu Kang, Sonya and Kitana. *Fought and defeated Scorpion in the first movie. *Outsmarted and killed Goro in the first movie. *Killed by Shao Kahn after saving Sonya in the second movie. Comics *Once trained with an actress named Lynn Kway. *Has a bodyguard named Bo. *Is romantically involved with Sonya. Trivia *The original name for Cage was going to be Michael Grimm. It was changed during preproduction of MK. *Cage's "real name" came from Midway game programmer John Carlton, who worked on the popular NBA Jam arcade series. *Brandon Lee was originally cast as Johnny Cage in the film, but he died before filming began. *Gray Daniels, Tom Cruise, Ryan Reynolds and Johnny Depp were among some of the actors considered for the role in the film. *The name John Carlton was briefly mentioned in Johnny Cage's song from the Mortal Kombat album by the techno group "The Immortals" *Cage's body can be seen in the introduction of Mortal Kombat Deception, located on the beginning of the stairway which leads to the Soulnado chamber, along with the other fallen Earthrealm warriors. *Cage was the last character in the original MK to be given a Fatality. Until a last-minute brainstorm by co-creator John Tobias that later evolved into the Head Punch Fatality, he was simply going to throw his opponent across the screen as a finishing move. * In the first game, Cage was modeled after the Belgian actor Jean-Claude Van Damme. The creators wanted Van Damme to be Johnny Cage in the first Mortal Kombat, but Van Damme was unable to due to his busy movie work. Johnny Cage's clothes in the first Mortal Kombat are almost identical to the clothes Van Damme wore in the last match in the 1988 movie Bloodsport and his split punch is taken directly from a move done by Van Damme in the movie. * The fictitious Johnny Cage film "Ninja Mime" is most likely inspired by the opening scenes from the action film "The Quest" which the hero, dressed like a mime, evades authorities using martial arts like moves. The film stars Jean-Claude Van Damme in the lead role, which whom Johnny Cage is based on. *Cage was the only character in the original MK who did not have a past history with any of the other characters. *In early arcade test versions of MKII, the word "Otomix" appeared on Cage's pants (they were worn by actor Daniel Pesina during filming), but was omitted in subsequent chip upgrades. Otomix is an established supplier of martial arts and athletic wear. *The Red Shadow Kick, and Red Shadow Uppercut special moves happened randomly in Mortal Kombat II. In Mortal Kombat 4, and Mortal Kombat Gold, selecting Player 2's outfit would cause the moves to have red shadow properties, rather than green. In MK 2011, the red shadow properties return as powered up versions of Cage's original green shadow attacks. *Johnny Cage was cut from the Game Boy version of MK due to memory constraints. He was also the only character from the first MK game who did not appear in Jeff Rovin's non-canon 1995 novel. *Cage was exclusively recreated for Mortal Kombat Trilogy because Daniel Pesina was fired by Midway after appearing in an ad for the arcade game BloodStorm dressed as Cage, and thus his MKII sprite wasn't used. He was replaced by Chris Alexander. * Also in the film, after Cage defeats Scorpion, a headshot photo signed 'To my greatest fan' lands in the debris, a nod to his Friendship finishing move in Mortal Kombat II. * Some think that Johnny had defeated Goro in the first Mortal Kombat tournament (most likely due to the movie). However in the videogame storyline it was Liu Kang who had defeated Goro in the tournament. In Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, there is another fight between Liu Kang, Kung Lao, and Goro, in which Johnny intervenes and finishes off Goro. This is a homage to the film. * According to some of the extras in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, his official biographies, the official comics, the officially-released "Johnny Cage: In Your Face" video, Mortal Kombat Rebirth, and Mortal Kombat Legacy Johnny Cage has starred in the following movies: **''Ninja Mime'' (a box office flop in America, but a cult classic in France; Cyrax loathed this film) **''Dragon Fist'' **''Dragon Fist 2'' **''Son of Dragon Fist'' **''HWAAAAA!!'' (according to MK:DA, it won an Oscar) **''Sudden Violence'' (Said to be award-winning) **''Aquatic Assault'' **''Exiting the Dragon of Death'' (opposite Hong Kong action star Channie Jack, a spoof of Jackie Chan) **''7 Poisons'' **''Cage Match'' **''The Gist of my Fist'' **''24 Karate Gold'' **''Who's That?'' **''Wu Shu'' (a TV series) **''Mortal Kombat'' **''Mortal Kombat II'' **''Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance'' **''Mortal Kombat: The Death of Johnny Cage'' (cancelled) **''Caged Rage'' **''Every Dog Has Its Day'' **''Massive Strike'' **''Iron Claw'' **''Time Smashers'' **''Citizen Cage (a spoof of Citizen Kane)'' **''Tommy Scissorfists (a spoof of Edward Scissorhands)'' **''Fight Dirty'' **''World's Most Wanted'' **''Power Rangers'' (A T.V. series) **''You Got Caged'' (2 pilots not picked up by the network) **''Pirates of the Outworld Demons (a spoof of Pirates of the Caribbean)'' **''Stryker: I Was Doing My Job'' as Kurtis Stryker (as of Stryker's MK 2011 ending) (cancelled by Stryker) *He also appeared on Celebrity SMASH TV (as a result, Smash TV and the Mortal Kombat series are both portrayed as occurring in the same fictional universe). He won the episode he was in, and donated his winnings to charity. * Cage is the comic relief character of Mortal Kombat (claimed in a bonus item in the Mortal Kombat: Deception double pack). *Though Mortal Kombat is notorious for replacing the letter "c" with "k", Cage is an exception. It's probably more than coincidence that Kage (影, pronounced "ka-ge") in japanese means shadow, and Johnny Cage is the master of many "shadow" move techniques. *In Unreal Championship 2, Raiden will occasionally taunt his opponent by stating that they "fight like Johnny Cage!". *His MKII ending showed him battling Shao Kahn on the big screen. *The movie poster seen during Cage's ending in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance featured both himself as the main character, standing in the forefront, and several other characters, including Sonya as his romantic interest, as well as Shang Tsung, Quan Chi, Scorpion, and Moloch as antagonists. *Reportedly, John Vogel did not like Cage's storyline in Mortal Kombat Trilogy and Mortal Kombat 4, and Cage's Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance bio can be viewed as retconning this, with Mortal Kombat: The Death of Johnny Cage explaining away - and mocking - his repeated death and revival during Trilogy and MK4. Fan reaction to this intent has been mixed; some like the loss of another "resurrection" storyline, but others feel the retcon destroys what was perceived as a refreshing change of pace for Cage's otherwise stilted storyline. Others do not view this as a retcon at all, as it would directly contradict his story screens in Trilogy and MK4 and therefore make them canonical. To these fans, the references to The Death of Johnny Cage movie therefore take on a more satirical aspect. This debate was put to rest in MK 2011, as one of the visions Raiden receives from his future self is Johnny being slain by Motaro, confirming the resurrection storyline as canon in the unchanged storyline. *A glitch in MK makes Johnny Cage's Uppercut, if performed quick enough, knock off a phantom head of the opponent, though this can be only done on Kano, Sub-Zero and Scorpion. In MKII this became an actual fatality, but this time Johnny Cage uppercuts three heads off. *Originally he used a variant of Mileena's X-Ray Move before it was changed to his infamous "Split Punch". *He is the character who has died and resurrected the most times in the series. *Cage is the first playable character in MK 2011´s story mode. *One of the only three known survivors of the Earthrealm fighters in MK 2011, the others being Sonya Blade and Raiden. *Cage is the only character in MK 2011 whose X-Ray move is a counter as opposed to be a direct damage attack like the rest of the characters. *''MK 2011'' is the first game to give an explanation for Johnny's shadow abilities, with him being descended from a Mediterranean cult who bred warriors for the gods with special abilities. *If Johnny Cage performs his And the Winner is... Fatality on Kratos, for some odd reason he will not get a trophy planted in his head. 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